The club was founded in 1973 with the goal of restoring football in the city, and won the state championship, the Campeonato Catarinense, for the first time in 1977. The club has won six state titles to date, most recently in 2017. A relatively small club, it entered Brazil's top division, Série A, for the first time in 1978,[1] returning to the top flight only in 2014. The club also has activities in futsal, in which it has been state champion twice. The club's home matches are played at Arena Condá.

In 2002, due to a partnership, Chapecoense was renamed to Associação Chapecoense Kindermann/Mastervet.[5] In 2006, the club was renamed back to its original name, Associação Chapecoense de Futebol,[9] and also won the Copa Santa Catarina.[10] In 2007, the club won for the third time the state championship,[11] and also competed in the Brazilian Championship Third Level, but was eliminated in the first stage of the competition.[12] They won the Campeonato Catarinense again in 2011 and 2016.

Chapecoense competed in the Série A for the first time since 1979 in 2014, as the club was promoted after they and Bragantino drew 1–1, in Chapecó, for the 2013 Série B.[13][14] Winning important points during its first season in the top flight, Chape cemented a place in the 2015 Série A, its second season in a row in the first division.[15]

As Copa Sudamericana champions, Chapecoense qualified for the 2017 Copa Libertadores, their first appearance in that tournament. With a squad built up from loan players, free signings and promoted youth players, as well as two survivors of the crash, they won their first match in an away game at Zulia of Venezuela.[16]

On the evening of 28 November 2016, LaMia Flight 2933, carrying 77 people, including the staff and players from the club, crashed as it approached Medellín, Colombia; 71 people died (including 21 journalists and almost the entire first team and managerial staff) and 6 survived, according to the BBC.[17] The surviving players were left-back Alan Ruschel,[18] backup goalkeeper Jakson Follmann[19] (who had one of his legs amputated due to his injuries and was forced to retire from professional football),[20] and center-back Neto. Goalkeeper Danilo initially survived the crash, but later died before arriving to the hospital.[21] Chapecoense goalkeeper Nivaldo, who did not board the flight, soon after announced his immediate retirement from football.[22] There was a lot of anger among the fans of Chapecoense after it was confirmed that LaMia Airlines Flight 2933 ran out of fuel after leaked footage confirmed that the pilot requested to land due to fuel problems but was instructed to wait 7 minutes as another aircraft was having fuel leakage problems and had already requested priority landing.[23] The government of Bolivia has suspended LaMia Airlines's flying license after it surfaced that the pilot skipped a crucial refuelling stop.[24]

Due to the crash, the 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals in which the team were due to play was suspended indefinitely. Their opponents, Atlético Nacional, offered to concede the tie to allow Chapecoense to be awarded the championship.[3] On 4 December 2016, Chapecoense's interim president announced that CONMEBOL would be granting the club the tournament title and prize money.[25][26] While initially other Brazilian clubs offered to loan out players to them for free and sent a request to the Brazilian FA stating that the club should be immune from relegation for three years,[2] Chapecoense rejected this assistance, stating that they wanted to rebuild properly.[27]

Chapecoense were asked to fulfill their next league fixture in tribute to the players and staff who died in a plane crash. Chapecoense President Ivan Tozzo revealed that the Brazilian FA had asked for the club to play their final league game of the 2016 campaign in part by drawing on their Under-20s side to fill out the roster.[28] However, both Chapecoense and their opponents Atlético Mineiro refused to play.[29] Both teams were awarded a 3–0 loss for the game.[30]

As of 2016, the sponsors are English company Umbro, the kit supplier; Caixa Econômica Federal, a state-owned Brazilian bank; Unimed, a Brazilian health insurance company; and Aurora Alimentos, a food processing company from Chapecó.[35]